Head of Education and Training - Pharmacy Technicians and Support Staff

Liverpool University Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust; Liverpool; On-site; GBP 45,000 - 60,000; Full time

Job summary

A prominent healthcare provider in Liverpool is seeking a Head of Education and Training for Pharmacy Technicians and Support Staff. In this senior leadership role, you will shape the pharmacy workforce through education and training strategies across all hospital sites. Candidates should have a strong educational background and a passion for workforce development within the pharmacy sector, ensuring support for staff through structured pathways and training programs.

Benefits

Continuous professional development

Contributions towards further education

Qualifications

• Experience in leading technical services.
• Accredited accuracy checking qualification.
• Registration with the General Pharmaceutical Council as a Pharmacy Technician.

Responsibilities

• Develop and implement a Group-wide pharmacy education strategy.
• Identify training needs and design targeted development programmes.
• Lead on recruitment, training, and development of Pharmacy Technicians.

Skills

Leadership

Communication

Organizational Skills

Project Management

Education

Masters degree in a relevant field

NVQ Level 3 / BTEC in Pharmacy Services

Job description

Overview

In this senior leadership role, you will work closely with the Lead Pharmacist – Education and Training to co‑design and deliver a Trust‑wide pharmacy education and training strategy. With a specific focus on pharmacy technicians and support staff, you will shape the future of the workforce across all UHLG hospital sites. Demonstrating strong strategic and operational leadership skills, you will ensure that our pharmacy technical staff are supported, developed and future‑ready through structured development pathways, responsive training programmes and close partnership with national bodies and education providers.

Are you a forward‑thinking, self‑motivated Pharmacy Technician with a passion for workforce development and education? Do you have a desire to pave the way for Pharmacy Technicians and Pharmacy Support Staff? Here at University Hospitals of Liverpool Group (UHLG) we are excited to offer an opportunity for a dynamic and experienced individual to join us as our Head of Education and Training – Pharmacy Technicians and Support Staff.

The postholder will have access to vulnerable people in the course of their normal duties and, as such, this post is subject to the Rehabilitation of Offenders Act 1974 (Exceptions) Order 1975 (Amendment) (England and Wales) Order 2020 and it will be necessary for a Disclosure to be made to the Disclosure and Barring Service to check for any previous criminal convictions.

Responsibilities

• Develop and implement a Group‑wide pharmacy education strategy for pharmacy technicians and support staff (excluding aseptic and radiopharmacy).
• Identify training needs and design targeted development programmes aligned to service and regulatory requirements.
• Lead on PTPT (Pre‑registration Trainee Pharmacy Technician) recruitment, training and development.
• Provide line management for Pharmacy Education and Training Technicians, including appraisals and competency assessments.
• Serve as UHLG’s key representative with the ICB, NHSE and education providers for pharmacy technical education.
• Maximise workforce development opportunities via the apprenticeship levy and other funding streams.
• Champion practice‑based research and contribute to the evidence base through publication and dissemination.
• Oversee the creation of training materials and resources, ensuring accessibility and effectiveness for a diverse workforce.
• Actively promote the role and professional development of pharmacy technicians and support staff.

Qualifications – Mandatory Criteria

• Masters degree (L7 degree) or equivalent in-depth/extensive experience in leading technical services.
• NVQ Level 3 / BTEC in Pharmacy Services or equivalent nationally recognised qualification.
• Accredited accuracy checking qualification/certification.
• A1 NVQ Assessor qualification.
• Registration with the General Pharmaceutical Council as a Pharmacy Technician.

Qualifications – Desirable Criteria

• Postgraduate management qualification or equivalent experience.
• Teaching qualification; currently employed in a senior role as a Pharmacy Technician leading pharmacy staff.
• In‑depth experience of hospital pharmacy operational management across a range of areas.
• Significant experience of providing education and training, including preparing and delivering presentations, training packs and other training materials.
• Management experience including recruitment, appraisal, training, leadership, motivation, sickness absence and participation in grievance or disciplinary procedures.
• Experience of change management and/or project work that influenced change.
• Regular liaison with other senior hospital staff and external agencies.
• Experience of multidisciplinary working to deliver Trust initiatives or resolve issues.
• Management of pay and/or non‑pay budgets.
• Experience of developing funding requests and monitoring outputs.
• Experience in risk management and incident investigation.
• Demonstrate an understanding of current pharmacy and NHS issues relating to technical and support staff roles and how E I July 2025 they operate in secondary care.
• Awareness of national strategy for development of technical pharmacy roles.
• Training methods to support effective training provision.
• Coaching and development techniques.
• Ability to interpret and apply professional standards and medicines legislation as it applies to all areas of pharmacy practice and its application to policies & procedures.
• Awareness of and a commitment to the Clinical Governance Agenda.
• Knowledge of a range of management topics including performance capability, disciplinary and financial management, service improvement.
• Have a good understanding of the funding streams available to support continuing education and development.
• Proactively provide suggestions, ideas and solutions for service improvement.
• Excellent planning, organisation and time‑management skills, with the ability to prioritise own workload and that of others.
• Ability to act on own initiative, under pressure and making long‑term plans with minimal supervision.
• Ability to network and bring innovation that impacts across other services.
• Ability to write clear concise reports.
• Confidence to present cases to a large group of staff whilst maintaining a clear message.
• Strong interpersonal communication skills – written.
• Strong interpersonal and communication skills – oral.
• Excellent presentation skills.
• Skilled negotiator with influencing skills.
• Ability to engage and motivate staff to deliver on service objectives and work well as a team.
• Ability to delegate appropriately, maintaining team motivation and clarity of purpose to deliver objectives.
• Resilient: ability to remain calm in difficult and challenging situations.
• Ability to handle conflict and complaints/concerns.
• High degree of computer literacy, including database searching and manipulation of spreadsheets.
• Accurate and methodical – good attention to detail.
• Enthusiasm for the role.
• Ability to inspire the team and sell the vision for service delivery.
• Flexible, adaptable.
• Persuasive and ability to negotiate.
• Occupational Health Clearance.
• Participation in evening, weekend and bank holiday working to meet the needs of departmental service delivery.
• Ability to travel across sites.
• Significant, relevant and ongoing personal CPD – maintain fitness to practice; you must have appropriate UK professional registration.

Equal Opportunities and EEO Statement

The Trust is committed to promoting equality and diversity; we value the contribution of individual talent, skills, knowledge and experience and aim for a workforce demography representative of the local community. We encourage applicants from the following groups that are currently under‑represented in our workforce: black, Asian and minority ethnic, lesbian, gay, bisexual and Transgender (LGBTQ+), disabled, male and age 16‑24.

Employer Information

UHLG operates from four hospital sites: Aintree University Hospital, Broadgreen Hospital, Liverpool Women’s Hospital and the Royal Liverpool University Hospital, alongside a host of community services. As a major healthcare provider, we offer general and emergency hospital care, alongside highly specialised regional services that extend to more than two million people across the North West.

Immigration, DBS and Safeguarding

Note: Under current Home Office Immigration Rules we are currently unable to offer right‑to‑work visa sponsorship for Band 2 and 3 roles with a salary of less than £25,000 pa as they do not meet the UK Visas & Immigration criteria. Only those applicants who demonstrate clearly how they meet our person specification will be shortlisted for interview. We reserve the right to close any vacancies from further applications when we have received a minimum number of applications from which to make a shortlist.

Trust policy requires that the cost of submitting & processing the successful applicant’s DBS application be recovered via salary deduction following start in post. The amount of £23 (standard disclosure) or £43 (enhanced disclosure) will be deducted from salary, in manageable monthly instalments for up to 3 months following commencement of employment. Bank posts require upfront payment.

Applicants requiring sponsorship may wish to determine the likelihood of obtaining sponsorship for this position by assessing themselves against the criteria on the gov.uk website – https://www.gov.uk/check-uk-visa. From April 2017, skilled visa applicants and their adult dependants will be required to provide a criminal record certificate from each country they have lived in consecutively for 12 months or more in the past ten years.

All staff must ensure they adhere to the organisation’s safeguarding children and adults policy and comply with the Local Safeguarding Children and Adult Board procedures. Staff should be mindful of their responsibility to safeguard children and adults in any activity performed on behalf of the organisation in line with statutory guidance and legislation. All employees (and volunteers) are expected to maintain their safeguarding knowledge and skills by completing mandatory safeguarding training which includes understanding and recognising the signs of abuse and neglect and taking appropriate action. As an organisation, we have adopted the Merseyside Domestic Abuse Workplace Scheme which supports our staff who are experiencing domestic abuse or any forms of sexual violence. If you have any personal requirements that will enable you to participate in our recruitment process please contact a member of the Recruitment Services by phone on 0151 706 4666 at the earliest opportunity to ensure that measures can be put in place to enable your application for this post.